Cinco de Mayo Agave

What better day to highlight Agave than on Cinco de Mayo?

A popular restaurant in Atlanta is named after the Agave plant. The award-winning restaurant specializes in Southwestern cuisine accompanied by a tequila bar. (http://www.agaverestaurant.com/about/) Agave tequilana is well known in the production of tequila, a key ingredient in margaritas many of which will be served on Cinco de Mayo.

Agave species are known to live for decades in its natural habitat. Coveniently, my director, who is attending a meeting in Tuscan, Arizonia this week, snapped some images of Agave. He had to go no further than the parking lot to find plantings, which are common in Southwestern landscapes.

In Georgia, Agave is used as a striking accent in the garden but requires extremely well-drained soil. It can be successfully grown in large containers placed in the garden, circumventing our heavy red clay soil.

Another species of Agave, Agave americana, also known as the Century Plant, produces flowers on tall, spindly spikes held high above the base. Flowering, which occurs after decades of growth, signals the end of the Century Plant's lifecy

cle; like waving a white flag, it surrenders to death.Most species of Agave are monocarpic: they flower once, produce seed, and then die. But all is not lost. Seeds from the flower germinate, and life goes on.